Knit suture for patterned fabric



Jan. 30, 1962 N. LEVIN 3,018,647

KNIT SUTURE FOR PATTERNED FABRIC Original Filed May 13, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Pl 1:5- l Fl E E -20 /& -/9

INVENTOR: Nat/Ian Lew/1 va/ M Jan. 30, 1962 N. LEVIN KNIT SUTURE FOR PATTERNED FABRIC 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed May 13, 1957 .F'LE- E INVENTOR. Nat/Mn Lev/n By Wfl/ United States Patent M 3,018,647 KNIT SUTURE FOR PATTERNED FABRIC Nathan Levin, Trenton, N.J., assignor to Textile Machine Works, Wyomissing, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Original application May 13, 1957, Ser. No. 658,642. Divided and this application Oct. 26, 1959, Ser. No.

7 Claims. (Cl. 66-179) The present invention relates generally to the art of knitting and more particularly to pattern fabric of the type having an inlaid or intarsia design formed therein by a plurality of individual suture-joined pattern sections, This application is a division of my prior application Serial No. 658,642, filed May 13, 1957, for Knit Suture and Method of Making Same.

It is an object of the present invention to provide fabric of the type set forth with an improved vertical or walewise extending suture stitch formation whereby the pattern sections are firmly joined together and wherein there is a clear sharp line of demarcation along the suture between adjacent pattern sections.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a vertical suture for the type of fabric set forth wherein the suture formation extends over a pair of adjacent wales, and wherein the interlocking stitches of adjacent pattern sections are located on the rear face of the fabric.

' With these and other objects in view, which will become apparent from the following detailed description of the illustrative embodiment of the invention as shown in the accompanying drawings, the invention resides in the novel suture as hereinafter described and as set forth in the claims.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of a stocking showing a representative eight section suture-joined pattern design in the leg portion thereof;

-FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the opposite side of the stocking shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged diagrammatic stitch layout of the suture for a portion of the design enclosed within the dotted line enclosure 3 of FIG. 1 and as viewed from the inside of the stocking of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic layout of the method of knitting a number of courses of a plurality of adjacen fabric sections.

The article of hosiery shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, of usual configuration, is provided on each side of the leg thereof with a so-called inlaid or intarsia design made up of a plurality of solid color suture-joined areas of fabric. The designs 10 may be placed where desired in the hosiery, and, in the present instance occupy the area 11 of the leg portion, all of the area 11 being formed by reciprocating knitting while the remaining portions of the stocking are formed in the customary manner,

Coursewise of the area 11, for example, generally along the line 12, the tubular leg comprises circular courses of eight separate suture-joined pattern sections of which one section is designated 13 at the front of the leg, another section is designated 14 at the rear of the leg, with three adjoining pattern sections designated 15, 16, and 17 disposed between the front and rear pattern sections 13 and 14 on one side of the leg, as shown in FIG. 1, while three similar adjoining pattern sections designated 18, 19, and 20, are similarly disposed on the other side of the leg, as shown in FIG. 2. The vertical sides of each of the eight pattern sections are joined by the improved sutures 21 of the present application. It will be understood that the particular location and configuration of the design 10 3,918,641 Patented Jan. 30, 1962 design of any desired configuration or location is within the scope of the present invention. The coursewise width of portions of each of the pattern sections may vary with has been chosen for illustrative purposes only and that a a particular design.

Generally, the pattern sections 13 and 14 are made of yarns of the hose body color, While each of the other pattern sections, on each side of the leg, is made of contrastingly colored yarn. A plurality of yarn changes may be made within each of the pattern sections to further vary the design.

The fabric of the present invention may be knitted upon a multifeed circular knitting machine of the type disclosed in the co-pending application of Benjamin Franklin Coile, Serial No. 329,801, filed January 6, 1953, using an attachment of the type disclosed in my co-pending application Serial No. 629,127, filed December 18, 1956, now Patent No. 2,948,131, issued August 9, 1960, for means to cyclically operate the yarn fingers of the machine, to which reference may be made.

The fabric is preferably made upon a machine having four equally spaced knitting feed stations which are adapted to rotate and to oscillate relative to a circle of needles of which the individual ones or groups thereof may be selected to knit at each of the four knitting stations. The four knitting stations may be referred to as feeds No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, and No. 4.

The pattern sections 14 and 15 are knit at feed No. 1, pattern sections 19 and 20 are knit at feed No. 2, pattern sections 13 and 18 are knit at feed No. 3, and pattern sections 16 and 17 are knit at feed No. 4. The arrangement is such that successive pairs of courses of the pattern sections 14, 19, 13 and 16, are knit during alternate pairs of knitting strokes of the machine at the four feeds, while successive pairs of courses of the pattern sections 15, 20, 18, and 17, are knit during intervening pairs of knitting strokes of the machine upon the same four feeds. Thus, pairs of courses of the alternate pattern sections are knit in alternation with the pairs of courses of the intervening pattern sections. However, in the resultant fabric the corresponding pairs of courses of all of the pattern sections are joined endwise to form complete in-line circular fabric courses of the design area so that each course of each pattern section comprises but a partial course of complete circular courses of the tubular fabric. 'In the present instance these fabric sections are joined along the vertical suture lines 21.

With respect to knitting the fabric of each pattern section, the number of needles used in knitting the same is two more than the number of wales of that pattern section appearing on the face of the fabric. For example, if a pattern section, such as 16, is ten wales wide, then twelve needles are employed of which needles numbered two through eleven knit plain stitches to form the ten wales while needles number one and twelve act to alternately knit tuck stitches. For the reverse stroke, eleven needles will be active of which needle number one Will tuck while needles numbered two through eleven will knit plain stitches with needle number twelve being inactive (remaining at low level, holding its stitch and not taking yarn), and, for the forward stroke eleven needles will also be active of which needle number twelve will tuck while needles numbered eleven through two will knit plain stitches with needle number one being inactive (remaining at low level, holding its tuck stitch and not taking yarn). The tuck stitches formed on needle number one will be incorporated in an end wale of adjacent pattern section 17, wbilethe tuck stitches formed on needle number twelve will be incorporated in an end wale of adjacent pattern section 15.

It will be understood that the grouping of the needles for the various pattern sections is such that the adjacent needle groups overlap by a pair of needles, so that the needles numbered one and two, of the above example, will also form part of the needle group used for making pattern section 17 while the needles numbered eleven and twelve will also form part of the needle group used for making pattern 15.

The method of knitting the fabric will be described in connection with the diagrammatic illustration of FIG. 4, wherein, eight courses of fabric, 22 through 29, of pattern sections 13 through 17, are indicated, with the pair of adjacent end needle wales defining the suture between sections 15 and 16 being indicated by the vertical dot dash lines 30 and 31; between sections '16 and 17 by similar lines 32 and 33; between sections 17 and 13 by similar lines 34 and 35; and between sections 15 and 14 by similar lines 36 and 37. The suture formed in each pair of common needle wales is indicated by reference character 21, while tuck stitches are indicated by the letter T and plain stitches are indicated by the letter K.

A pair of courses for the sections 13, 14, 16 and 19, are knit during a pair of knitting strokes of the machine and then a fill-in pair of courses for the sections 15, 17, 18, and 20 are knit during the next pair of strokes, and so on for the pattern area 11. As shown in FIG. 4, the sections 13, 14 and 16 (19 not being shown but being similar to 16) have pairs of courses 22 and 23 knit of yarns 13a, 14a, and 16a, respectively, during a first pair of knitting strokes of the machine. In the first reverse stroke to form course 22 in section 16, the needle of wale 30 forms a tuck stitch T and the following needles extending between the wales 31 to 32 inclusive form plain stitches K; then for the first forward stroke to form course 23 in section 16, the needle of wale 33 forms a tuck stitch T and the following needles extending between the wales 32 to 31 inclusive form plain stitches K. In a similar manner the first two courses 22 and 23 of sections 13 and 14 are similarly formed of yarns 13a and 14a during the same first pair of reverse and forward strokes.

During the second pair of knitting strokes, pairs of fillin courses 22 and 23, of yarns 15a and 17a, are formed for sections 15 and 17, respectively. Pairs of courses (not shown) are also formed at this time for the sections 18 and 20 which are similar to the courses for sections 15 and 17. In the reverse stroke to form course 22 in section 15, the needle of wale 36 forms a tuck stitch T and the following needles extending between the wales 37 to 30 inclusive form plain stitches K; then for the forward stroke to form course 23 in section 15, the needle of wale 31 forms a tuck stitch T and the following needles extending between the wales 30 to 37 inclusive form plain stitches K. In a similar manner the first two courses 22 and 23 of section 17 (and sections 18 and 20) are similarly formed of yarn 17a during the same second pair of knitting strokes.

In this manner, the four stroke cycle of knitting forms the pairs of courses 22 and 23 for the eight sections 13 through 20 to complete a pair of circular fabric courses of the design area 11. The next four knitting strokes will form the courses 24 and 25 of the stocking, and in a similar manner the other courses 26 through 29 will be formed.

Following the formation of course 29, and assuming this to be the final course of the pattern sections, then for the next reverse stroke of the machine, in the sections 13, 14, 16 (and 19) only the first needle of the needle groups for each of the sections is caused to be active and this is caused to form a tuck stitch Ta, this being shown in wales 30 and 34 for the sections '16 and 13. For the first reverse stroke following the course 29 in sections 15 and 17 (and sections 18 and 20) the leading needle only of the needle groups forms tuck stitches Ta in wales 36 and 32. While each of the pattern sections has been shown as terminating at the same course, it will be understood that the various pattern sections may terminate in various courses, as seen in FIG. 1, and that the extra tuck stitch on a single needle following the last course of each pattern section may be made individually for each of the pattern sections. This extra tuck stitch aids in tying in the yarn of the pattern sections to prevent opening up of the fabric at this point. The various yarns 13a through 17a are shown in dotted lines prior to their introduction to the fabric and subsequent to their removal therefrom. The first and final stitches of each yarn for each pattern section are tuck stitches.

FIG. 3 shows the loop formation of the rear face of portions of pattern sections 15, 16 and 17 of the fabric. The tuck stitches T of the yarn of any one section are incorporated on the rear face of the fabric of adjoining sections with the result that the front faces of the pattern sections are of solid color throughout and especially along the juncture between the pattern sections. For example, the wales 31 and 32, on the front face of the fabric, show only stitches of the yarn 16a, which is the body yarn for pattern section 16. In like manner the wale 30, on the front face of the fabric, shows only stitches of the yarn 1511 which is the body yarn for pattern section 15, and the wale 33, on the front face of the fabric, shows only stitches of the yarn 17a which is the body yarn for pattern section 17. Furthermore, the number of plain stitches in each of the suture wales 30, 31, 32, and 33 is equal to the number of plain stitches in the non-suture wales. The tuck stitches T of yarn 16a in wale 30 are in the odd numbered courses 39, 41, and 43, whereas the tuck stitches T of yarn 15a in wale 31 are in the even numbered courses 38, 40, and 42. The tuck stitches T of yarn 17a in wale 32 are in the even numbered courses 38, 40, and 42, whereas the tuck stitches T of yarn 16a in wale 33 are in the odd numbered courses 39, 41, and 43. With respect to a pair of courses of yarn 16a in pattern section 16, say courses 39 and 40, of which the former is knit first, tuck stitch 44 of course 39 is knit first in wale 30 followed by the plain stitches in Wales 31 to 32 inclusive, all during one stroke (reversed) of the machine. Then, for the second (forward) machine stroke, the first stitch formed is tuck stitch 45 of course 40 followed by plain stitches in wales 32 to 31 inclusive. The pairs of courses of each of the pattern sections are similarly formed with a tuck stitch at the beginning of each course and a plain stitch at the terminal end thereof, the tuck stitches being in alternate courses of the pattern sections, the arrangement between adjacent pattern sections being such that the tuck stitches of the two body yarns are staggered in the suture wales 21. The tuck stitches which are held on the end needle wales after the formation of any one pair of courses, are knit off by the needles of adjacent pattern sections as a pair of courses are knit therein. This action is repeated throughout the formation of the entire fabric. When a pattern section is finished, and its yarn is to be withdrawn from knitting, it is preferable to tie in the yarn by means of a single tuck stitch of that yarn on the leading needle only of the group of needles previously knitting the yarn. While the needle tucks the yarn, the tuck stitch itself is knit off on the following course of knitting when another yarn is knitting on this needle.

For any one of the groups of needles (the needle count of which may vary in different courses of the same pattern section) the terminal needles are alternately leading and tail needles depending upon the direction of the knitting stroke, and when a terminal needle is a leading needle it is caused to form a tuck stitch whereas when a terminal needle is a tail needle it is caused to remain at low inactive level to miss taking the yarn. The same pair of needles is common to an adjacent pair of needle groups, one of the needles serving as one of the terminal needles for one needle group while the other of the pair of needles serves as one of the terminal needles for the other needle group.

Having thus described my invention in full detail, it

will be understood that these details need not be strictly adhered to and that various changes and modifications may be made all falling within the scope of the invention as defined by the following claims.

I claim:

1. Knit fabric having at least a pair of suture-joined pattern sections having end wales wherein the suture structure between said pattern sections is contained within said end wales of said pattern sections, the body yarn of one of said pattern sections being incorporated in the rear face of only the said end wale of the other of said pattern sections while the body yarn of the other of said pattern sections is incorporated in the rear face of only 1 the said end wale of the said one of said pattern sections,

to form the suture structure.

2. Knit fabric having at least a pair of suture-joined pattern sections having end wales wherein the suture structure between said pattern sections is contained Within said end wales of said pattern sections, the body yarn of one of said pattern sections being incorporated in the form of tuck stitches in the rear face of only the said end wale of the other of said pattern sections while the body yarn of the other of said pattern sections is incorporated in the form of tuck stitches in the rear face of only the said end wale of the said one of said pattern sections, to form the suture structure.

3. Knit fabric having at least a pair of suture-joined pattern sections having end wales wherein the suture structure between said pattern sections is contained within said end wales of said pattern sections, the body yarn of one of said pattern sections being incorporated in the form of tuck stitches in the rear face of spaced courses of the said end wale of the other of said pattern sections While the body yarn of the other of said pattern sections is incorporated in the form of tuck stitches in the rear face of spaced courses of the said end wale of the said one of said pattern sections, to form the suture structure.

4. Knit fabric having at least a pair of suture-joined pattern sections having end wales wherein the suture structure between said pattern sections is contained Within said end Wales of said pattern sections, the body yarn of one of said pattern sections being incorporated in the form of tuck stitches in the rear face of alternate fabric courses of said end wale of the other of said pattern sections while the body yarn of the other of said pattern sections is incorporated in the form of tuck stitches in the rear face of intervening fabric courses of the said end wale of the said one of said pattern sections, to form the suture structure.

5. Knit fabric having at least a pair of suture-joined pattern sections having end wales wherein the suture structure between said pattern sections is contained within said end wales of said pattern sections, the body yarn of one of said pattern sections being incorporated in the form of tuck stitches in alternate fabric courses of said end wale of the other of said pattern sections While the body yarn of the other of said pattern sections is incorporated in the form of tuck stitches in intervening fabric courses of the said end wale of the said one of said pattern sections, to form the suture structure.

6. Knit fabric as set forth in claim 5 wherein the body yarn of at least one of said pattern sections forms a tuck stitch in the knit fabric in a course following said suture structure.

7. Knit fabric having a plurality of suture-joined pattern sections having end Wales wherein the suture structure between any pair of the pattern sections is contained withn said end wales thereof, the suture structure between a first and a second pattern section being formed by the body yarn of said first pattern section being incorporated in the form of tuck stitches in alternate fabric courses of the end wale of said second pattern section While the body yarn of said second pattern section is incorporated in the form of tuck stitches in intervening fabric courses of the end wale of said first pattern section, and the suture structure between said second and a third pattern section being formed by the body yarn of said second pattern section being incorporated in the form of tuck stitches in intervening fabric courses of the end Wale of said third pattern section while the body yarn of said third pattern section is incorporated in the form of tuck stitches in alternate fabric courses of the end wale of said second pattern section.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,728,293 Lombardi Sept. 17, 1929 2,263,829 Smith Nov. 25, 1941 2,286,227 Ralston June 16, 1942 2,696,096 Haddad Dec. 7, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 27,233 Great Britain Dec. 14, 1905 

